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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467909">For the Love of Hirikka</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anomy/pseuds/Anomy'>Anomy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, American Idol AU, Competition, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia Has Feelings, M/M, Musician Jaskier | Dandelion, Musicians, POV Alternating, Park Ranger Geralt, Reality TV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:42:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,400</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467909</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anomy/pseuds/Anomy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jaskier is a finalist on Redanian Idol which means its time for the hometown visit! The whole nation is excited to meet the families. There's only two problems:<br/>1) Jaskier's parents are mediocre on the best of days<br/>2) Jaskier accidentally lied about having a boyfriend on national television and now the producers have found the grumpiest park ranger in the world to play the part<br/>Oh well, it's too late to back out now unless he wants to hand the audience vote to *Valdo Marx* on a silver platter.</p>
<p>An American Idol AU where Geralt and Jaskier stumble their way through producer shenanigans and accidentally fall in love.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>For the Love of Hirikka</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For the September Modern AU Challenge created by relenafanel. The prompt was "Fake Relationship AU." </p>
<p>This got out of hand and I think it's gonna end up being 4 chapters. I have the 2nd chapter written already (from Geralt's POV) and I'll post that once it's cleaned up. Thank you so much for reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"<em>He’s a Park Ranger.</em>"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jaskier regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. If you carefully re-watched the playback of the Redanian Idol episode you could see the moment of panic on Jaskier's face before the shot cut to the judge's panel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn't tell you why he'd lied or why he’d made up that particular incredibly-specific lie. All morning the top 8 had been preparing for their spotlight interviews. Over the past few weeks the producers had collected concerning amounts of information about the contestants and their lives. Jaskier wasn't too worried about the interview. He liked talking about himself. Plus there wasn't much scandal to be eked out of his life as a full time student and music instructor. While Valdo Marx paced around practicing off flash cards, Jaskier relaxed on a couch and tried to visualize his ballad performance. He knew this week was make or break for him in the competition. Ballads were Jaskier’s thing! He needed to nail the opening verse to set himself up for the soaring swells of the ballad’s climax.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thoughts still focused on his performance, Jaskier sat patiently while the crew touched up his makeup and set up the cameras for his interview with Beau. Despite what people on set whispered about Beau’s problems with drinking, the Redanian Idol host had always been kind to Jaskier. With a few gentle nudges, affable banter on stage, and some advice about presenting to the cameras, he’d been instrumental in making Jaskier a fan favorite. They started their interview off with some cheeky jokes and a cute story about the small town Jaskier had been raised in. Then they moved into when Jaskier started making music (<em>“as soon as I could make noise”</em>), the first songs he wrote (<em>“I remember a very catchy one about eating raspberries”</em>), and his time of University (<em>“well Beau, a gentleman never kisses and tells” “oh ho, we’ve got a heartbreaker on our hands!” “I just love, love”</em>). </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon it was time to wrap up so the next contestant could take their turn. Jaskier should have been in the safe-zone. Smiling, Beau leaned in for one last question.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So Jaskier, tell us about your boyfriend back home!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Record-scratch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The truth was that Jaskier was single. Maybe a PA made a research error. Maybe Beau got the contestants’ stories confused. Whatever the case, Jaskier now had to admit in front of Beau, the crew, and all of Redania that he was single. And not the fun, single-and-ready-to-mingle type of single. He was recently-dumped-because-he-lacked-the-ability-to-commit-and-make-another-person-feel-loved single. He was maybe-going-to-cry-on-camera single. For the first time in a long time, Jaskier felt his chest go tight with the beginning of a panic attack. He pasted on a forced smile before the pause could get awkwardly long. He needed to admit the truth. He needed to say something.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh. He’s a Park Ranger.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And thus Jaskier told the dumbest lie of his life on national television. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>✣✣✣</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few weeks later and Jaskier had (almost) forgotten the lie. His triumphant performance during ballad week had created a wave of momentum that carried him to the top 3. The audience loved him for his dramatic, emotional performances and tremendous vocal range. Joining him in the top 3 were Essi Daven, a spunky and passionate belter who regularly brought the crowd to their feet, and Valdo Marx, a rock-n-roller with a gravelly growl that had inspired many thirst accounts. Jaskier and Essi were close friends who had supported each other through the rollercoaster of the competition. Valdo was... there. He didn’t spend a lot of time with the other contestants, instead focusing on leveraging the show into building his brand. He’d almost been punched in the face in week 4 when another contestant had gotten tired of Valdo’s stream of unsolicited “advice.” Despite Valdo’s many flaws, Jaskier did have to reluctantly admit that the man was talented and extremely popular with the audience. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Top 3 was home visit week. The visits had been planned down to the minute to make sure the crew had time to shoot all of the footage they needed. Jaskier was not really looking forward to the experience. He hadn’t been back to Lettenhove in almost four years. It wasn’t that Jaskier had a bad relationship with his family. It was more that they’d never understood him any better than he’d understood them - which was not at all. Everyone seemed passively content to limit the relationship to the occasional phone call or birthday call. He wondered if his mom was furious her perfectly curated home was being invaded by “tv people” or if she was thrilled to be showing said home off to the world. Either way, he knew the producers weren’t going to get much more than cookie-cutter, perfect family out of his parents on this trip. Yennefer, his story producer, was probably tearing her hair out trying to create a watchable segment. She was meeting him at the airport after he filmed his on-set rehearsal segments to brief him for the home visit on the flight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jaskier had never been sure if Yennefer liked him. She was a force of nature on the Redanian Idol set. At their first meeting she had looked him up and down with an expression of bored distaste and then definitively stated that she would make him a star. There were a lot of conflicting signals with Yennefer. Sometimes he thought she saw him as a sort of talking, walking puppet that she could make Emmy-award winning television with. But her methods worked, so he tried to stay on her good side. Still, the shark-like grin on her face when they met at the gate made him gulp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yennefer, my most terrifying love!” Charm was Jaskier’s go-to defense. It was more effective against Machiavellian producers than it was against knives or rotten food (both had been thrown at him in situations that were absolutely not-at-all his fault thank you very much.) </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bard.” The vintage-inspired title had caught on with the audience. The show promoted his unique covers of popular music as #bardrock. Both the name and the hashtag appeared to have arisen organically on social media but they were, of course, Yennefer originals.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t until partway through the flight that the reason for Yennefer’s glee became clear. They were going over the itinerary for the second day of shooting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And then after the high school we’ll meet Geralt at your parents’ house.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Gerald?” Jaskier asked curiously. Yennefer smirked harder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Geralt” She corrected. “You didn’t think we were going to miss visiting your beloved park ranger boyfriend did you?” Jaskier felt himself melting into his seat as he finally understood how doomed he was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My... boyfriend who is Gerald.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Geralt. It’s a “t” at the end. You should probably remember that the love of your life is named Geralt.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh.” Jaskier could hear passengers shuffling in their seats, the chatter of the flight attendants in the front, a faint buzzing noise. He leaned his head back heavily. He wasn’t 100% clear what was happening, but he understood that there was going to be a price for his impulsive mistake during the interview. “Just to be clear. You know I don’t have a boyfriend, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Obviously,” Yennefer snorted. “I had a hell of a time finding you one. You couldn’t have made him a mechanic, maybe someone in sales. There’s not many park rangers in Lettenhove. I could only find three age-appropriate men. Only two of them were appropriate for television. You have no idea the bullshit I waded through convincing this guy to work with us. You’re welcome.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you. I think.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A million questions clamored in Jaskier’s head. Who was this guy? How was this supposed to work? Would they need to touch each other? Kiss? Was Geralt-with-a-”t” any good at acting? Was Geralt being coerced? Watching the emotions play out on his face, Yennefer snorted again. After a second she continued with the itinerary as if there was nothing unusual about the situation. Jaskier felt himself spiraling into a panic and was surprised when a soft hand squeezed his. Looking down at his hand intertwined with Yennefer’s, he took a deep breath and tried to pay attention to her description of the restaurant he’d be visiting with Geralt and the “impromptu” performance he’d put on in a nearby park. On with the show.</span>
</p>
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